PUP students who torched tables and chairs face expulsion

MANILA, Philippines - Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) president Emmanuel de Guzman said Wednesday that students involved in a violent protest action on Tuesday may be expelled from school.

"Suspension with payment of the [damaged] property and dismissal," De Guzman said in an interview with ABS-CBN's radio dzMM, referring to the possible punishments that may be imposed on students who threw and torched chairs and tables during the protest action inside the university's main campus in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

De Guzman said that they are now in the process of identifying the students involved.

A group of PUP students on Tuesday disrupted classes by staging a protest action inside the main campus. Some members of the group threw chairs and tables from the upper floors of the campus' main building.

The group of protesters then torched the tables and chairs in front of other students.

Charley Urquiza of the Sentral na Konseho ng Mag-aaral of PUP, said that the chairs that they threw and torched during the protest action were already damaged and are considered trash.

The students held the protest action following the death of Kristel Tejada, who committed suicide after being forced to file a leave of absence from the university after failing to pay her tuition for the second semester.